A prática nos sertões na Capitania de Porto Seguro: paulistas e indígenas na (trans)formação da sociedade colonial (1585-1701)

Abstract

The thesis presented here proposed to analyze the historical experience of the Captaincy of Porto Seguro in the period between the conflicts that caused the expulsion of the Jesuits, in the final years of the 16th century, until the foundation of Vila de Santo Antônio do Rio das Caravelas, in 1701 As an interpretative key or guiding principle of the analysis, we used the experiences and historical processes that highlighted the continuity and dependence of the exploitation of the different forms of recruitment and exploitation of indigenous labor as a means of maintaining an insignificant colonization and limited development . Through a varied set of sources, deposited in archives and various funds, we seek to understand the precarious condition of the Portuguese presence in the Captaincy of Porto Seguro as opposed to the massive and resistant indigenous presence in the cut territory. We evidenced that the little economic success of the captaincy resulted in the mobilization and displacement of varied indigenous groups through the abusive use of the resource to violence that provoked the reiteration of the exhaustion of populations accompanied by the search for the recomposition of labor in the colonial settlements and villages. Finally, the analysis showed that the exhaustion of the groups that inhabited the coast, due to the intense exploitation of labor, wars and infectious diseases, forced the descent of groups that inhabited regions increasingly distant from the coast, resulting in the growth of occupation of colonial centers of indigenous people from the Macro-Jê group in the Portuguese settlements of the Captaincy of Porto Seguro. To do so, we operate critically with the concept of sertão and its multiple meanings, aiming to highlight the use of its circulation practiced by the agents as well as by the indigenous people. The entire process was accompanied by a critical reading and interpretation of the laws arising from the Portuguese Crown's indigenist policy.